Optical reader and use

ABSTRACT

An optical reader is provided for reading a symbol representing information having areas of different light reflectivity. The optical reader comprises a radiant energy source, a photodetector, an optical system and a decoder. The radiant energy source generates a radiant energy for illuminating a target region. The photodetector generates output electrical signals indicative of the radiant energy incident thereon. The optical system includes a projection portion and a collection portion. The projection portion directs the radiant energy along a projection path extending from the radiant energy source to the target region. The collection portion collects the radiant energy reflected from a symbol when the symbol occupies the target region and directs the collected radiant energy along a collection path extending from the target region to the photodetector. The collection portion includes one pinhole aperture disposed upstream on the collection path from the photodetector without intervening refraction or diffraction and one magnifying lens disposed upstream on the collection path from the pinhole aperture without intervening refraction or diffraction. The decoder decodes the output electrical signals of the photodetector to provide indication of the information contained in the symbol.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,424, issued onMar. 1, 2005, entitled “OPTICAL READER AND USE,” which is aContinuation-In-Part of U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,234, issued on Jun. 1, 2004,and entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACCESSING A REMOTE LOCATION BYSCANNING AN OPTICAL CODE”, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/151,471 now abandoned, and U.S. Pat. No.6,098,106, issued on Aug. 1, 2000, entitied, “METHOD FOR CONTROLLINGCOMPUTERS THROUGH A RADIO/TELEVISION COMMUNICATION HUB”.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to optical readers. In one aspect, itrelates to an optical reader for reading bar codes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the growing numbers of computer users connecting to the “Internet,”many companies are seeking the substantial commercial opportunitiespresented by such a large user base. For example, one technology whichexists allows a television (“TV”) signal to trigger a computer responsein which the consumer will be guided to a personalized web page. Thesource of the triggering signal may be a TV, video tape recorder, orradio. For example, if a viewer is watching a TV program in which anadvertiser offers viewer voting, the advertiser may transmit a uniquesignal within the television signal which controls a program known as a“browser” on the viewer's computer to automatically display theadvertiser's web page. The viewer then simply makes a selection which isthen transmitted back to the advertiser.

In order to provide the viewer with the capability of responding to awide variety of companies using this technology, a database of companyinformation and Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) codes is necessarilymaintained in the viewer's computer, requiring continuous updates. URLsare short strings of data that identify resources on the Internet:documents, images, downloadable files, services, electronic mailboxes,and other resources. URLs make resources available under a variety ofnaming schemes and access methods such as HTTP, FTP, and Internet mail,addressable in the same simple way. URLs reduce the tedium of “login tothis server, then issue this magic command . . . ” down to a singleclick. The Internet uses URLs to specify the location of files on otherservers. A URL includes the type of resource being accessed (e.g., Web,gopher, FTP), the address of the server, and the location of the file.The URL can point to any file on any networked computer. Currenttechnology requires the viewer to perform periodic updates to obtain themost current URL database. This aspect of the current technology iscumbersome since the update process requires downloading information tothe viewer's computer. Moreover, the likelihood for error in performingthe update, and the necessity of redoing the update in the event of alater computer crash, further complicates the process. Additionally,current technologies are limited in the number of companies which may bestored in the database. This is a significant limitation sinceworld-wide access presented by the Internet and the increasing number ofcompanies connecting to perform on-line E-commerce necessitates a largedatabase.

Many types of optical readers are known, however, their cost andcomplexity have heretofore limited their use primarily to industrial andcommercial users. Now, many new network-based technologies are beingdeveloped for home users which involve optical scanning. Thus, the needfor a simple, low cost optical reader which can be attached to apersonal computer has emerged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention disclosed and claimed herein comprises, in oneaspect thereof, an optical reader for reading a symbol representinginformation having areas of different light reflectivity. The opticalreader comprises a radiant energy source, a photodetector, an opticalsystem and a decoder. The radiant energy source generates a radiantenergy for illuminating a target region. The photodetector generatesoutput electrical signals indicative of the radiant energy incidentthereon. The optical system includes a projection portion and acollection portion. The projection portion directs the radiant energyalong a projection path extending from the radiant energy source to thetarget region. The collection portion collects the radiant energyreflected from a symbol when the symbol occupies the target region anddirects the collected radiant energy along a collection path extendingfrom the target region to the photodetector. The collection portionincludes one pinhole aperture disposed upstream on the collection pathfrom the photodetector without intervening refraction or diffraction andone magnifying lens disposed upstream on the collection path from thepinhole aperture without intervening refraction or diffraction. Thedecoder decodes the output electrical signals of the photodetector toprovide indication of the information contained in the symbol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates the computer components employed in this embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates system interactions over a global network;

FIGS. 4 a–4 e illustrate the various message packets transmitted betweenthe source PC and network servers used in the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting operation of the system according to thepreferred embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of actions taken by the AdvertiserReference Server (“ARS”) server;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of the interactive process between thesource computer and ARS;

FIG. 8 illustrates a web browser page receiving the modifiedURL/advertiser product data according to the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates a more detailed, simplified block diagram of theembodiment of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic view of a method for performing therouting operation;

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an alternate embodiment utilizingan optical region in the video image for generating the routinginformation;

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram illustrating the generation of aprofile with the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 14 illustrates a flowchart for generating the profile and storingat the ARS;

FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart for processing the profile informationwhen information is routed to a user;

FIG. 16 illustrates a general block diagram of a disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 17 illustrates the conversion circuit of the wedge interface;

FIG. 18 illustrates a sample message packet transmitted from the user PCto the ARS;

FIG. 19 illustrates a more detailed block diagram of the routing of themessage packets between the various nodes;

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a browser window, according to adisclosed embodiment;

FIG. 21 illustrates a diagrammatic view of information contained in theARS database;

FIG. 22 illustrates a flowchart of the process of receiving informationfrom the user's perspective;

FIG. 23 illustrates a flowchart according to the ARS;

FIG. 24 illustrates a flowchart of the process performed at theE-commerce node;

FIG. 25 illustrates reading a bar code with an optical reader accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 26 illustrates a top plan view of an optical reader according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 27 illustrates a front elevation view of the optical reader viewedfrom line 27—27 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 illustrates a general functional block diagram of the componentsof an optical reader in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 29 illustrates the optical reader of FIG. 26 with portions of theouter shell removed to show the interior components;

FIG. 30 illustrates an enlarged view of the optical system of theoptical reader while reading a bar code;

FIG. 31 illustrates a perspective view of the detector unit used in anembodiment of the optical reader;

FIG. 32 illustrates an exploded view of the detector unit of FIG. 31;

FIG. 33 illustrates a top plan view of an optical reader according toanother embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 34 illustrates a side elevation view of the optical reader of FIG.33;

FIG. 35 illustrates a front elevation view of the optical reader viewedfrom line 35—35 of FIG. 33; and

FIG. 36 illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment of the process forreading a barcode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a block diagram of asystem for controlling a personal computer (“PC”) 112 via an audio tonetransmitted over a wireless system utilizing a TV. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1, there is provided a transmission station 101 anda receive station 117 that are connected via a communication link 108.The transmission station 101 is comprised of a television program source104, which is operable to generate a program in the form of a broadcastsignal comprised of video and audio. This is transmitted viaconventional techniques along channels in the appropriate frequencies.The program source is input to a mixing device 106, which mixing deviceis operable to mix in an audio signal. This audio signal is derived froman audio source 100 which comprises a coded audio signal which is thenmodulated onto a carrier which is combined with the television programsource 104. This signal combining can be done at the audio level, or itcan even be done at the RF level in the form of a different carrier.However, the preferred method is to merely sum the audio signal from themodulator 102 into the audio channel of the program that is generated bythe television program source 104. The output thereof is provided fromthe mixing device 106 in the form of broadcast signal to an antenna 107,which transmits the information over the communication link 108 to anantenna 109 on the receive side.

On the receive side of the system, a conventional receiver 110, such asa television is provided. This television provides a speaker outputwhich provides the user with an audible signal. This is typicallyassociated with the program. However, the receiver 110 in the disclosedembodiment, also provides an audio output jack, this being the type RCAjack. This jack is utilized to provide an audio output signal on a line113 which is represented by an audio signal 111. This line 113 providesall of the audio that is received over the communication link 108 to thePC 112 in the audio input port on the PC 112. However, it should beunderstood that, although a direct connection is illustrated from thereceiver 110 to the PC 112, there actually could be a microphone pickupat the PC 112 which could pick the audio signal up. In the disclosedembodiment, the audio signal generated by the advertiser data inputdevice 100 is audible to the human ear and, therefore, can be heard bythe user. Therefore, no special filters are needed to provide this audioto the PC 112.

The PC 112 is operable to run programs thereon which typically arestored in a program file area 116. These programs can be any type ofprograms such as word processing programs, application programs, etc. Inthe disclosed embodiment, the program that is utilized in the system iswhat is referred to as a “browser.” The PC 112 runs a browser program tofacilitate the access of information on the network, for example, aglobal communication network known as the “Internet” or theWorld-Wide-Web (“Web”). The browser is a hypertext-linked applicationused for accessing information. Hypertext is a term used to describe aparticular organization of information within a data processing system,and its presentation to a user. It exploits the computer's ability tolink together information from a wide variety of sources to provide theuser with the ability to explore a particular topic. The traditionalstyle of presentation used in books employs an organization of theinformation which is imposed upon it by limitations of the medium,namely fixed sized, sequential paper pages. Hypertext systems, however,use a large number of units of text or other types of data such as imageinformation, graphical information, video information, or soundinformation, which can vary in size. A collection of such units ofinformation is termed a hypertext document, or where the hypertextdocuments employ information other than text, hypermedia documents.Multimedia communications may use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol(“HTTP”), and files or formatted data may use the Hypertext MarkupLanguage (“HTML”). This formatting language provides for a mingling oftext, graphics, sound, video, and hypertext links by “tagging” a textdocument using HTML. Data encoded using HTML is often referred to as an“HTML document,” an “HTML page,” or a “home page.” These documents andother Internet resources may be accessed across the network by means ofa network addressing scheme which uses a locator referred to as aUniform Resource Locator (“URL”), for example, “http://www.digital.com.”

The Internet is one of the most utilized networks for interconnectingdistributed computer systems and allows users of these computer systemsto exchange data all over the world. Connected to the Internet are manyprivate networks, for example, corporate or commercial networks.Standard protocols, such as the Transport Control Protocol (“TCP”) andthe Internet Protocol (“IP”) provide a convenient method forcommunicating across these diverse networks. These protocols dictate howdata are formatted and communicated. As a characteristic of theInternet, the protocols are layered in an IP stack. At higher levels ofthe IP stack, such as the application layer (where HTTP is employed),the user information is more readily visible, while at lower levels,such as the network level (where TCP/IP are used), the data can merelybe observed as packets or a stream of rapidly moving digital signals.Superimposed on the Internet is a standard protocol interface foraccessing Web resources, such as servers, files, Web pages, mailmessages, and the like. One way that Web resources can be accessed is bybrowsers made by Netscape® and Microsoft Internet Explorer®.

Referring again now to FIG. 1, the user can load this program with theappropriate keystrokes such that a browser window will be displayed on adisplay 118. In one embodiment, the user can run the browser program onthe PC 112 such that the browser window is displayed on the display 118.While watching a preferred program, the user can also view display 118.When an audio signal is received by the receiver 110 and the encodedinformation is contained therein that was input thereto by theadvertiser, the PC 112 will then perform a number of operations. Thefirst operation, according to the disclosed embodiment, is to extractthe audio information within the received audio signal in the form ofdigital data, and then transmit this digital data to a defined locationon the global communication network via a modem connection 114. Thisconnection will be described hereinbelow. This information will berelayed to a proprietary location and the instructions sent back to thePC 112 as to the location of the advertiser associated with the code,and the PC 112 will then effect a communication link to that locationsuch that the user can view on the display 118 information that theadvertiser, by the fact of putting the tone onto the broadcast channel,desires the viewer to view. This information can be in the form ofinteractive programs, data files, etc. In one example, when anadvertisement appears on the television, the tone can be generated andthen additional data displayed on the display 118. Additionally, astreaming video program could be played on the PC received over thenetwork, which streaming video program is actually longer than theadvertising segment on the broadcast. Another example would be a sportsgame that would broadcast the tone in order to allow a user access toinformation that is not available over the broadcast network, such asadditional statistics associated with the sports program, etc.

By utilizing the system described herein with respect to the disclosedembodiment of FIG. 1, an advertiser is allowed the ability to control auser's PC 112 through the use of tones embedded within a program audiosignal. As will described hereinbelow, the disclosed embodiment utilizesparticular routing information stored in the PC 112 which allows theencoded information in the received audio signal to route thisinformation to a desired location on the network, and then allow otherrouting information to be returned to the PC 112 for control thereof toroute the PC 112 to the appropriate location associated with that code.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a computer 204, similar tocomputer 112, connected to display information on display 118. Thecomputer 204 comprises an internal audio or “sound” card 206 forreceiving the transmitted audio signal through receive antenna 109 andreceiver 110. The sound card 206 typically contains analog-to-digitalcircuitry for converting the analog audio signal into a digital signal.The digital signal may then be more easily manipulated by softwareprograms. The receiver 110 separates the audio signal from the videosignal. A special trigger signal located within the transmittedadvertiser audio signal triggers proprietary software running on thecomputer 204 which launches a communication application, in thisparticular embodiment, the web browser application located on the PC204. Coded advertiser information contained within the audio signal isthen extracted and appended with the address of a proprietary serverlocated on the communication network.

The remote server address is in the form of a URL. This appended data,in addition to other control codes, is inserted directly into the webbrowser application for automatic routing to the communication network.The web browser running on PC 204, and communicating to the network withan internal modem 208, in this embodiment, transmits the advertiserinformation to the remote server. The remote server cross-references theadvertiser product information to the address of the advertiser serverlocated on the network. The address of the advertiser server is routedback through the PC 204 web browser to the advertiser server. Theadvertiser product information is returned to PC 204 to be presented tothe viewer on display 118. In this particular embodiment, the particularadvertiser product information displayed is contained within theadvertiser's web page 212. As mentioned above, the audio signal isaudible to the human ear. Therefore the audio signal, as emitted fromthe TV speakers, may be input to the sound card 206 via a microphone.Furthermore, the audio signal need not be a real-time broadcast, but maybe on video tapes, CDs, DVD, or other media which may be displayed at alater date. With the imminent implementation of high definition digitaltelevision, the audio signal output from the TV may also be digital.Therefore, direct input into a sound card for A/D purposes may not benecessary, but alternative interfacing techniques to accommodatedigital-to-digital signal formats would apply.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a source PC 302, similarto PCs 204 and 112, connected to a global communication network (“GCN”)306 through an interface 304. In this embodiment, the audio signal 111is received by PC 302 through its sound card 206. The audio signal 111comprises a trigger signal which triggers proprietary software intolaunching a web browser application residing on the PC 302. The audiosignal 111 also comprises advertiser product information which isextracted and appended with URL information of an Advertiser ReferenceServer (“ARS”) 308. The ARS 308 is a system disposed on the GCN 306 thatis defined as the location to which data in the audio signal 111 is tobe routed. As such, data in the audio signal 111 will always be routedto the ARS 308, since a URL is unique on the GCN 306. Connected to theARS 308 is a database 310 of product codes and associated manufacturerURLs. The database 310 undergoes a continual update process which istransparent to the user. As companies sign-on, i.e., subscribe, to thistechnology, manufacturer and product information is added to thedatabase 310 without interrupting operation of the source PC 302 withfrequent updates. When the advertiser server address URL is obtainedfrom the ARS database 310, it and the request for the particularadvertiser product information are automatically routed back through theweb browser on PC 302, over to the respective advertiser server forretrieval of the advertiser product information to the PC 302.Additionally, although the disclosed invention discusses a globalcommunication network, the system is also applicable to LANs, WANs, andpeer-to-peer network configurations. It should be noted that thedisclosed architecture is not limited to a single source PC 302, but maycomprise a plurality of source PCs, e.g., PC 300 and PC 303. Moreover, aplurality of ARS 308 systems and advertiser servers 312 may beimplemented, e.g., ARS 314, and advertiser server A 316, respectively.

The information transactions, in general, which occur between thenetworked systems of this embodiment, over the communication network,are the following. The web browser running on source PC 302 transmits amessage packet to the ARS 308 over Path “A.” The ARS 308 decodes themessage packet and performs a cross-reference function with productinformation extracted from the received message packet to obtain theaddress of an advertiser server 312. A new message packet is assembledcomprising the advertiser server 312 address, and sent back to thesource PC 302 over Path “B.” A “handoff” operation is performed wherebythe source PC 302 browser simply reroutes the information on to theadvertiser server 312 over Path “C,” with the appropriate source anddestination address appended. The advertiser server 312 receives anddecodes the message packet. Therequest-for-advertiser-product-information is extracted and theadvertiser 312 retrieves the requested information from its database fortransmission back to the source PC 302 over Path “D.” The source PC 302then processes the information, i.e., for display to the viewer. Theoptional Path “E” is discussed hereinbelow. It should be noted that thedisclosed methods are not limited to only browser communicationapplications, but may accommodate, with sufficient modifications by oneskilled in the art, other communication applications used to transmitinformation over the Internet or communication network.

Referring now to FIG. 4 a, the message packet 400 sent from the sourcePC 302 to ARS 308 via Path “A” comprises several fields. One fieldcomprises the URL of the ARS 308 which indicates where the messagepacket is to be sent. Another field comprises the advertiser productcode or other information derived from the audio signal 111, and anyadditional overhead information required for a given transaction. Theproduct code provides a link to the address of the advertiser server312, located in the database 310. Yet another field comprises thenetwork address of the source PC 302. In general, network transmissionsare effected in packets of information, each packet providing adestination address, a source address, and data. These packets varydepending upon the network transmission protocol utilized forcommunication. Although the protocols utilized in the disclosedembodiment are of a conventional protocol suite commonly known asTCP/IP, it should be understood that any protocols providing the similarbasic functions can be used, with the primary requirement that a browsercan forward the routing information to the desired URL in response tokeystrokes being input to a PC. Within the context of this disclosure,“message packet” shall refer to and comprise the destination URL,product information, and source address, even though more than a singlepacket must be transmitted to effect such a transmission.

Upon receipt of the message packet 400 from source PC 302, ARS 308processes the information in accordance with instructions embedded inthe overhead information. The ARS 308 specifically will extract theproduct code information from the received packet 400 and, onceextracted, will then decode this product code information. Once decoded,this information is then compared with data contained within the ARSadvertiser database 310 to determine if there is a “hit.” If there is no“hit” indicating a match, then information is returned to the browserindicating such. If there is a “hit,” a packet 402 is assembled whichcomprises the address of the source PC 302, and information instructingthe source PC 302 as to how to access, directly in a “handoff”operation, another location on the network, that of an advertiser server312. This type of construction is relatively conventional with browserssuch as Netscape® and Microsoft Internet Explorer® and, rather thandisplaying information from the ARS 308, the source PC 302 can thenaccess the advertiser server 312. The ARS 308 transmits the packet 402back to source PC 302 over Path “B.” Referring now to FIG. 4 b, themessage packet 402 comprises the address of the source PC 302, the URLof the advertiser server 312 embedded within instructional code, and theURL of the ARS 308.

Upon receipt of the message packet 402 by the source PC 302, the messagepacket 402 is disassembled to obtain pertinent routing information forassembly of a new message packet 404. The web browser running on sourcePC 302 is now directed to obtain, over Path “C,” the product informationrelevant to the particular advertiser server 312 location informationembedded in message packet 404. Referring now to FIG. 4 c, the messagepacket 404 for this transaction comprises the URL of the advertiserserver 312, the request-for-product-information data, and the address ofthe source PC 302.

Upon receipt of the message packet 404 from source PC 302, advertiserserver 312 disassembles the message packet 404 to obtain therequest-for-product-information data. The advertiser server 312 thenretrieves the particular product information from its database, andtransmits it over Path “D” back to the source PC 302. Referring now toFIG. 4 d, the message packet 406 for this particular transactioncomprises the address of the source PC 302, the requested information,and the URL of the advertiser server 312.

Optionally, the ARS 308 may make a direct request for productinformation over Path “E” to advertiser server 312. In this mode, theARS 308 sends information to the advertiser server 312 instructing it tocontact the source PC 302. This, however, is unconventional and requiresmore complex software control. The message packet 408 for thistransaction is illustrated in FIG. 4 e, which comprises the URL of theadvertiser server 312, the request-for-product-information data, and theaddress of the source PC 302. Since product information is not beingreturned to the ARS 308, but directly to the source PC 302, the messagepacket 408 requires the return address to be that of the source PC 302.The product information is then passed directly to PC 302 over Path “D.”

Referring now to FIG. 5, the method for detecting and obtaining productinformation is as follows. In decision block 500, a proprietaryapplication running resident on a source computer PC 302 (similar to PC204) monitors the audio input for a special trigger signal. Upondetection of the trigger signal, data following the trigger signal isdecoded for further processing, in function block 502. In function block504, the data is buffered for further manipulation. In decision block506, a determination is made as to whether the data can be properlyauthenticated. If not, program flow continues through the “N” signal tofunction block 520 where the data is discarded. In function block 522,the program then signals for a retransmission of the data. The systemthen waits for the next trigger signal, in decision block 500. Ifproperly authenticated in decision block 506, program flow continuesthrough the “Y” signal path where the data is then used to launch theweb browser application, as indicated in function block 508. In functionblock 510, the web browser receives the URL data, which is thenautomatically routed through the computer modem 208 to the networkinterface 304 and ultimately to the network 306. In function block 514,the ARS 308 responds by returning the URL of advertiser server 312 tothe PC 302. In function block 516, the web browser running on the sourcePC 302, receives the advertiser URL information from the ARS 308, andtransmits the URL for the product file to the advertiser server 312. Inblock 518, the advertiser server 312 responds by sending the productinformation to the source PC 302 for processing.

The user may obtain the benefits of this architecture by simplydownloading the proprietary software over the network. Other methods forobtaining the software are well-known; for example, by CD, diskette, orpre-loaded hard drives.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a flowchart of the processthe ARS 308 may undergo when receiving the message packet 400 from thesource PC 302. In decision block 600, the ARS 308 checks for the receiptof the message packet 400. If a message packet, 400 is not received,program flow moves along the “N” path to continue waiting for themessage. If the message packet 400 is received, program flow continuesalong path “Y” for message processing. Upon receipt of the messagepacket 400, in function block 602, the ARS 308 decodes the messagepacket 400. The product code is then extracted independently in functionblock 604 in preparation for matching the product code with theappropriate advertiser server address located in the database 310. Infunction block 606, the product code is then used with a lookup table toretrieve the advertiser server 312 URL of the respective productinformation contained in the audio signal data. In function block 608,the ARS 308 then assembles message packet 402 for transmission back tothe source PC 302. Function block 610 indicates the process of sendingthe message packet 402 back to the source PC 302 over Path “B.”

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated a flowchart of theinteractive processes between the source PC 302 and the advertiserserver 312. In function block 700, the source PC 302 receives themessage packet 402 back from the ARS 308 and begins to decode the packet402. In function block 702, the URL of the advertiser productinformation is extracted from the message packet 402 and saved forinsertion into the message packet 404 to the advertiser server 312. Themessage packet 404 is then assembled and sent by the source PC 302 overPath “C” to the advertiser server 312, in function block 704. While thesource PC 302 waits, in function block 706, the advertiser server 312receives the message packet 404 from the source PC 302, in functionblock 708, and disassembles it. The product information location is thenextracted from the message packet 404 in function block 710. Theparticular product information is retrieved from the advertiser server312 database for transmission back to the source PC 302. In functionblock 712, the product information is assembled into message packet 406and then transmitted back to the source PC 302 over Path “D.” Returningto the source PC 302 in function block 714, the advertiser productinformation contained in the message packet 406 received from theadvertiser server 312, is then extracted and processed in function block716.

Referring now to FIG. 8, after receipt of a trigger signal, a webbrowser application on a source PC 302 is automatically launched andcomputer display 800 presents a browser page 802. Proprietary softwarerunning on the source PC 302 processes the audio signal data after beingdigitized through the sound card 206. The software appropriatelyprepares the data for insertion directly into the web browser byextracting the product information code and appending keystroke data tothis information. First, a URL page 804 is opened in response to aCtrl-O command added by the proprietary software as the first characterstring. Opening URL page 804 automatically positions the cursor in afield 806 where additional keystroke data following the Ctrl-O commandwill be inserted. After URL page 804 is opened, the hypertext protocolpreamble http:// is inserted into the field 806. Next, URL informationassociated with the location of the ARS 308 is inserted into field 806.Following the ARS 308 URL data are the characters /? to allow entry ofvariables immediately following the /? characters. In this embodiment,the variable following is the product information code received in theaudio signal. The product code information also provides thecross-reference information for obtaining the advertiser URL from theARS database 310. Next, a carriage return is added to send theURL/product data and close the window 804. After the message packet 400is transmitted to the ARS 308 from the source PC 302, transactions fromthe ARS 308, to the source PC 302, to the advertiser server 312, andback to the source PC 302, occur quickly and are transparent to theviewer. At this point, the next information the viewer sees is theproduct information which was received from the advertiser server 312.

Referring now to FIG. 9, there is illustrated a block diagram of a moresimplified embodiment. In this embodiment, a video source 902 isprovided which is operable to provide an audio output on an audio cable901 which provides routing information referred to by reference numeral904. The routing information 904 is basically information containedwithin the audio signal. This is an encoded or embedded signal. Theimportant aspect of the routing information 904 is that it isautomatically output in realtime as a function of the broadcast of thevideo program received over the video source 902. Therefore, wheneverthe program is being broadcast in realtime to the user 908, the routinginformation 904 will be output whenever the producer of the videodesires it to be produced. It should be understood that the box 902representing the video source could be any type of media that willresult in the routing information being output. This could be a cassetteplayer, a DVD player, an audio cassette, a CD ROM or any such media. Itis only important that this is a program that the producer developswhich the user 908 watches in a continuous or a streaming manner.Embedded within that program, at a desired point selected by theproducer, the routing information 904 is output.

The audio information is then routed to a PC 906, which is similar tothe PC 112 in FIG. 1. A user 908 is interfaced with the PC to receiveinformation thereof, the PC 906 having associated therewith a display(not shown). The PC 906 is interfaced with a network 910, similar to thenetwork 306 in FIG. 3. This network 910 has multiple nodes thereon, oneof which is the PC 906, and another of which is represented by a networknode 912 which represents remote information. The object of the presentembodiment is to access remote information for display to the user 908by the act of transmitting from the video program in block 902 therouting information 904. This routing information 904 is utilized toallow the PC 906 which has a network “browser” running thereon to“fetch” the remote information at the node 912 over the network 910 fordisplay to the user 908. This routing information 904 is in the form ofan embedded code within the audio signal, as was described hereinabove.

Referring now to FIG. 10, there is illustrated a more detailed blockdiagram of the embodiment of FIG. 9. In this embodiment, the PC 906 issplit up into a couple of nodes, a first PC 1002 and a second PC 1004.The PC 1002 resides at the node associated with the user 908, and the PC1004 resides at another node. The PC 1004 represents the ARS 308 of FIG.3. The PC 1004 has a database 1006 associated therewith, which isbasically the advertiser database 310. Therefore, there are three nodeson the network 910 necessary to implement the disclosed embodiment, thePC 1002, the PC 1004 and the remote information node 912. The routinginformation 904 is utilized by the PC 1002 for routing to the PC 1004 todetermine the location of the remote information node 912 on the network910. This is returned to the PC 1002 and a connection made directly withthe remote information node 912 and the information retrieved therefromto the user 908. The routing information 904 basically constitutesprimary routing information.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofhow the network packet is formed for sending the primary routinginformation to the PC 1004. In general, the primary routing informationoccupies a single field which primary routing information is thenassembled into a data packet with the secondary routing information fortransfer to the network 910. This is described hereinabove in detail.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated an alternate embodimentto that of FIG. 9. In this embodiment, the video source 902 hasassociated therewith an optical region 1202, which optical region 1202has disposed therein an embedded video code. This embedded video codecould be relatively complex or as simple as a grid of dark and whiteregions, each region in the grid able to have a dark color for a logic“1” or a white region for a logic “0.” This will allow a digital valueto be disposed within the optical region 1202. A sensor 1204 can then beprovided for sensing this video code. In the example above, this wouldmerely require an array of optical detectors, one for each region in thegrid to determine whether this is a logic “1” or a logic “0” state. Oneof the sensed video is then output to the PC 906 for processing thereofto determine the information contained therein, which informationcontained therein constitutes the primary routing information 904.Thereafter, it is processed as described hereinabove with reference toFIG. 9.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is illustrated a block diagram for anembodiment wherein a user's profile can be forwarded to the originalsubscriber or manufacturer. The PC 906 has associated therewith aprofile database 1302, which profile database 1302 is operable to storea profile of the user 908. This profile is created when the program,after initial installation, requests profile information to be input inorder to activate the program. In addition to the profile, there is alsoa unique ID that is provided to the user 908 in association with thebrowser program that runs on the PC 906. This is stored in a storagelocation represented by a block 1304. This ID 1304 is accessible by aremote location as a “cookie” which is information that is stored in thePC 906 in an accessible location, which accessible location is actuallyaccessible by the remote program running on a remote node.

The ARS 308, which basically constitutes the PC 1004 of FIG. 10, isoperable to have associated therewith a profile database 1308, whichprofile database 1308 is operable to store profiles for all of theusers. The profile database 1308 is a combination of the stored inprofile database 1302 for all of the PCs 906 that are attachable to thesystem. This is to be distinguished from information stored in thedatabase 310 of the ARS 308, the advertiser's database, which containsintermediate destination tables. When the routing information in theprimary routing information 904 is forwarded to the ARS 308 andextracted from the original data packet, the lookup procedure describedhereinabove can then be performed to determine where this information isto be routed. The profile database 1302 is then utilized for eachtransaction, wherein each transaction in the form of the routinginformation received from the primary routing information 904 iscompared to the destination tables of database 310 to determine whatmanufacturer is associated therewith.

The associated ID 1304 that is transmitted along with the routinginformation in primary routing information 904 is then compared with theprofile database 1308 to determine if a profile associated therewith isavailable. This information is stored in a transaction database 1310such that, at a later time, for each routing code received in the formof the information in primary routing information 904, there willassociated therewith the IDs 1304 of each of the PCs 906. The associatedprofiles in database 1308, which are stored in association with IDs1304, can then be assembled and transmitted to a subscriber asreferenced by a subscriber node 1312 on the network 910. The ARS 308 cando this in two modes, a realtime mode or a non-realtime mode. In arealtime mode, each time a PC 906 accesses the advertiser database 310,that user's profile information is uploaded to the subscriber node 1312.At the same time, billing information is generated for that subscriber1312 which is stored in a billing database 1316. Therefore, the ARS 308has the ability to inform the subscriber 1312 of each transaction, billfor those transactions, and also provide to the subscriber 1312 profileinformation regarding who is accessing the particular productadvertisement having associated therewith the routing information field904 for a particular routing code as described hereinabove. Thisinformation, once assembled, can then be transmitted to the subscriber1312 and also be reflected in billing information and stored in thebilling information database 1316.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation for storing the profile for the user. The program is initiatedin a block 1402 and then proceeds to a function block 1404, wherein thesystem will prompt for the profile upon initiation of the system. Thisinitiation is a function that is set to activate whenever the userinitially loads the software that he or she is provided. The purpose forthis is to create, in addition to the setup information, a user profile.Once the user is prompted for this, then the program will flow to adecision block 1406 to determine whether the user provides basic ordetailed information. This is selectable by the user. If selectingbasic, the program will flow to a function block 1408 wherein the userwill enter basic information such as name and serial number and possiblyan address. However, to provide some incentive to the user to enter moreinformation, the original prompt in function block 1404 would haveoffers for such things as coupons, discounts, etc., if the user willenter additional information. If the user selects this option, theprogram flows from the decision block 1406 to a function block 1410. Inthe function block 1410, the user is prompted to enter specificinformation such as job, income level, general family history,demographic information and more. There can be any amount of informationcollected in this particular function block.

Once all of the information is collected, in either the basic mode orthe more specific mode, the program will then flow to a function block1412 where this information is stored locally. The program then flows toa decision block 1414 to then go on-line to the host or the ARS 308. Ingeneral, the user is prompted to determine whether he or she wants tosend this information to the host at the present time or to send itlater. If he or she selects the “later” option, the program will flow toa function block 1415 to prompt the user at a later time to send theinformation. In the disclosed embodiment, the user will not be able toutilize the software until the profile information is sent to the host.Therefore, the user may have to activate this at a later time in orderto connect with the host.

If the user has selected the option to upload the profile information tothe host, the program will flow to the function block 1416 to initiatethe connect process and then to a decision block 1418 to determine ifthe connection has been made. If not, the program will flow along a “N”path to a time to decision block 1420 which will timeout to an errorblock 1422 or back to the input of the connect decision block 1418. Theprogram, once connected, will then flow along a “Y” path from decisionblock 1418 to a function block 1428 to send the profile information withthe ID of the computer or user to the host. The ID is basically, asdescribed hereinabove, a “cookie” in the computer which is accessed bythe program when transmitting to the host. The program will then flow toa function block 1430 to activate the program such that it, at latertime, can operate without requiring all of the setup information. Ingeneral, all of the operation of this flowchart is performed with a“wizard” which steps the user through the setup process. Once complete,the program will flow to a Done block 1432.

Referring now to FIG. 15, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation of the host when receiving a transaction. The program isinitiated at a Start block 1502 and then proceeds to decision block1504, wherein it is determined whether the system has received a routingrequest, i.e., the routing information 904 in the form of a tone, etc.,embedded in the audio signal, as described hereinabove with respect toFIG. 9. The program will loop back around to the input of decision block1504 until the routing request has been received. At this time, theprogram will flow along the “Y” path to a function block 1506 to receivethe primary routing information and the user ID. Essentially, thisprimary routing information is extracted from the audio tone, inaddition to the user ID. The program then flows to a function block 1508to look up the manufacturer URL that corresponds to the received primaryrouting information and then return the necessary command information tothe originating PC 108 in order to allow that PC 108 to connect to thedestination associated with the primary routing information. Thereafter,the program will flow to a function block 1510 to update the transactiondatabase 1310 for the current transaction. In general, the routinginformation 904 will be stored as a single field with the associatedIDs. The profile database 1308, as described hereinabove, has associatedtherewith detailed profiles of each user on the system that hasactivated their software in association with their ID. Since the ID wassent in association with the routing information, what is stored in thetransaction database 1310 is the routing code, in association with allof the IDs transmitted to the system in association with that particularrouting code. Once this transaction database 1310 has been updated, asdescribed hereinabove, the transactions can be transferred back to thesubscriber at node 312 with the detailed profile information from theprofile database 1308.

The profile information can be transmitted back to the subscriber ormanufacturer at the node 312 in realtime or non-realtime. A decisionblock 1512 is provided for this, which determines if the delivery isrealtime. If realtime, the program will flow along a “Y” path to afunction block 1514 wherein the information will be immediatelyforwarded to the manufacturer or subscriber. The program will then flowto a function block 1516 wherein the billing for that particularmanufacturer or subscriber will be updated in the billing database 1316.The program will then flow into an End block 1518. If it wasnon-realtime, the program moves along the “N” path to a function block1520 wherein it is set for a later delivery and it is accrued in thetransaction database 1310. In any event, the transaction database 1310will accrue all information associated with a particular routing code.

With a realtime transaction, it is possible for a manufacturer to placean advertisement in a magazine or to place a product on a shelf at aparticular time. The manufacturer can thereafter monitor the times wheneither the advertisements are or the products are purchased. Of course,they must be scanned into a computer which will provide some delay.However, the manufacturer can gain a very current view of how a productis moving. For example, if a cola manufacturer were to provide apromotional advertisement on, for example, television, indicating that anew cola was going to be placed on the shelf and that the first 1000purchasers, for example, scanning their code into the network wouldreceive some benefit, such as a chance to win a trip to some famousresort in Florida or some other incentive, the manufacturer would have avery good idea as to how well the advertisement was received. Further,the advertiser would know where the receptive markets were. If thisadvertiser, for example, had placed the television advertisement in tencities and received overwhelming response from one city, but very poorresponse from another city, he would then have some inclination tobelieve that either the one poor-response city was not a good market orthat the advertising medium he had chosen was very poor. Since theadvertiser can obtain a relatively instant response and also contentwith that response as to the demographics of the responder, veryimportant information can be obtained in a relatively short time.

It should be noted that the disclosed embodiment is not limited to asingle source PC 302, but may encompass a large number of sourcecomputers connected over a global communication network. Additionally,the embodiment is not limited to a single ARS 308 or a single advertiserserver 312, but may include a plurality of ARS and advertiser systems,indicated by the addition of ARS 314 and advertiser server A 316,respectively. It should also be noted that this embodiment is notlimited only to global communication networks, but also may be used withLAN, WAN, and peer-to-peer configurations.

It should also be noted that the disclosed embodiment is not limited toa personal computer, but is also applicable to, for example, a NetworkComputer (“NetPC”), a scaled-down version of the PC, or any system whichaccommodates user interaction and interfaces to information resources.

One typical application of the above noted technique is for providing atriggering event during a program, such as a sport event. In a firstexample, this may be generated by an advertiser. One could imagine that,due to the cost of advertisements in a high profile sports program,there is a desire to utilize this time wisely. If, for example, anadvertiser contracted for 15 seconds worth of advertising time, theycould insert within their program a tone containing the routinginformation. This routing information can then be output to the user'sPC 302 which will cause the user's PC 302 to, via the network, obtaininformation from a remote location typically controlled by theadvertiser. This could be in the form of an advertisement of a lengthlonger than that contracted for. Further, this could be an interactivetype of advertisement. An important aspect to the type of interactionbetween the actual broadcast program with the embedded routinginformation and the manufacturer's site is the fact that there isprovided information as to the user's PC 302 and a profile of the userthemselves. Therefore, an advertiser can actually gain realtimeinformation as to the number of individuals that are watching theirparticular advertisement and also information as to the background ofthose individuals, profile information, etc. This can be a very valuableasset to an advertiser.

In another example, the producer of the program, whether it be an on-airprogram, a program embedded in a video tape, CD-ROM, DVD, or a cassette,can allow the user to automatically access additional information thatis not displayed on the screen. For example, in a sporting event,various statistics can be provided to the user from a remote location,merely by the viewer watching the program. When these statistics areprovided, the advertiser can be provided with profile information andbackground information regarding the user. This can be important when,for example, the user may record a sports program. If the manufacturersees that this program routing code is being output from some device ata time later than the actual broadcast itself, this allows theadvertisers to actually see that their program is still being used andalso what type of individual is using it. Alternatively, the broadcastercould determine the same and actually bill the advertiser an additionalsum for a later broadcast. This is all due to the fact that the routinginformation automatically, through a PC and a network, will provide anindication to the advertiser the time at which the actual informationwas broadcast.

The different type of medium that can be utilized with the aboveembodiment are such things as advertisements, which are discussedhereinabove, contests, games, news programs, education, couponpromotional programs, demonstration media (demos), and photographs, allof which can be broadcast on a private site or a public site. This allwill provide the ability to allow realtime interface with the networkand the remote location for obtaining the routed information and alsoallow for realtime billing and accounting.

Referring now to FIG. 16, there is illustrated a general block diagramof a disclosed embodiment. A bar code scanning input device 1600 isprovided by a input device distributor to customers and is associatedwith that distributor via a input device ID stored therein. The inputdevice 1600 is either sold or freely distributed to customers for usewith their personal computing systems. Since more and more products arebeing sold using bar codes, it can be appreciated that a user having theinput device 1600 can scan bar codes of a multitude of products in orderto obtain more information. Information about these products can be madeimmediately available to the user from the manufacturer for presentationby the user's computer 302. Beyond simply displaying information aboutthe product in which the user is interested, the input devicedistributor may include additional advertising information for displayto the user such as information about other promotions or productsprovided or sold by the input device distributor. Similarly, advertisersmay provide catalogs of advertisements or information in newspapers orperiodicals where the user simply scans the bar code associated with theadvertisement using the input device 1600 to obtain further information.There is provided a paper source 1602 having contained thereon anadvertisement 1604 and an associated bar code 1606. (Note that thedisclosed concept is not limited to scanning of bar codes 1606 frompaper sources 1602, but is also operable to scan a bar code 1606 on theproduct itself. Also, the input device 1600 can be any type of devicethat will scan any type of image having information encoded therein.)

After obtaining the input device 1600 from the input device distributor,the user connects the input device 1600 to their PC 302. During ascanning operation, input device 1600 reads bar code data 1606 and theinput device ID into a “wedge” interface 1608 for conversion intokeyboard data, which keyboard data is passed therefrom into the keyboardinput port of PC 302. The importance of the input device ID will bediscussed in more detail hereinbelow.

The wedge interface 1608 is simply an interface box containing circuitrythat accommodates inputs from both the scanning input device 1600 and acomputer keyboard 1610. This merely allows the information scanned bythe input device 1600 to be input into the PC 302. In the disclosedembodiment, the wedge interface 1608 will convert any information. Thedata output from the input device 1600 is passed into the wedgeinterface 1608 for conversion into keyboard data which is readilyrecognizable by the PC 302. Therefore, the input device 1600 is notrequired to be connected to a separate port on the PC 302. This data isrecognized as a sequence of keystrokes. However, the output of the inputdevice 1600 can be input in any manner compatible with the PC 302. Whennot receiving scanner data, the wedge interface 1608 simply acts as apass-through device for keyboard data from the keyboard 1610. In anycase, the information is ultimately processed by a processor in the PC302 and can be presented to the user on a display 1612. The wedgeinterface 1608 is operable to provide a decoding function for the barcode 1606 and conversion thereof to keystroke input data.

In operation, the product code of a product is provided in the form of abar code 1606. This bar code 1606 is the “link” to a product. Thedisclosed embodiment is operable to connect that product informationcontained in the bar code 1606 with a web page of the manufacturer ofthat product by utilizing the bar code 1606 as the product “identifier.”The program operating on the PC 302 provides routing information to theARS 308 after launching the browser on the PC 302 and connecting to theARS 308 over the GCN 306, which ARS 308 then performs the necessarysteps to cause the browser to connect to the manufacturer web site,while also providing for an accounting step, as will be described inmore detail hereinbelow.

The bar code 1606 by itself is incompatible with any kind of network forthe purposes of communication therewith. It is primarily provided for aretail-type setting. Therefore, the information contained in the barcode 1606, by itself, does not allow for anything other thanidentification of a product, assuming that one has a database 1614containing information as to a correlation between the product and thebar code 1606.

The wedge interface 1608 is operable to decode the bar code 1606 toextract the encoded information therein, and append to that decoded barcode information relating to an ID for the input device 1600. Thisinformation is then forwarded to the ARS 308 by the resident program inthe PC 302. This is facilitated by intermediate routing informationstored in the program indicating to which node on the GCN 306 thescanned bar code information is to be sent, i.e., to the ARS 308. It isimportant to note that the information in the bar code 1606 must beconverted from its optical image to numerical values which are thenultimately input to the keyboard input port of PC 302 and converted intodata compatible with communication software residing on the PC 302 (inthis case, HTML language for insertion into a browser program). When thescanned information is input to the PC 302, the resident programlaunches the browser program and then assembles a communication packetcomprised of the URL of the ARS 308, the input device ID and the userID. If another type of communications program were utilized, then itwould have to be converted into language compatible with that program.Of course, a user could actually key in the information on the bar code102 and then append the appropriate intermediate routing informationthereafter. As will be described hereinbelow, the intermediate routinginformation appended thereto is the URL of the ARS 308 disposed on theGCN 306.

As part of the configuration for using the input device 1600, the PC 302hosts input device software which is operable to interpret datatransmitted from the input device 1600, and to create a message packethaving the scanned product information and input device ID, routinginformation, and a user ID which identifies the user location of theinput device 1600. The input device software loads at boot-up of the PC302 and runs in the background. In response to receiving a scanned barcode 1606, the wedge interface 1608 outputs a keystroke code (e.g.,ALT-F10) to bring the input device program into the foreground forinteraction by the operating system. The input device program theninserts the necessary information into the browser program. The messagepacket is then transmitted to interface 304 across the globalcommunication network 306 to the ARS 308. The ARS 308 interrogates themessage packet and performs a lookup function using the ARS database310. If a match is found between particular parameters of the messagepacket, a return message packet is sent back to the PC 302 forprocessing.

The input device program running on PC 302 functions to partition thebrowser window displayed to the user into several individual areas. Thisis for the purpose of preparing to present to the user selectedinformation in each of the individual areas (also called “framing”). Theselected information comprises the product information which the userrequested by scanning the bar code 1606 using the input device 1600,information about the input device distributor which establishes theidentity of the company associated with that particular input device1600, and at least one or more other frames which may be advertisementsrelated to other products that the input device distributor sells. Notethat the advertisements displayed by the input device distributor may berelated to the product of interest or totally unrelated. For example, ifa user scans the bar code 1606 of a soda from Company A, the inputdevice distributor may generate an advertisement of a new soft drinkbeing marketed by Company A, that it sells. On the other hand, the inputdevice distributor may also structure the display of information to theuser such that a user requesting product information of a Product X mayget the requested information of Product X along with advertisements fora competing item Product Y. Essentially, the input device distributor isfree to generate any advertisement to the user in response to the userrequesting product information.

The return message packet transmitted from the ARS 308 to the PC 302 isthen transmitted back across the GCN 306 to the advertiser server 312.The advertiser server 312 restructures the message packet and appendsthe particular product information for transmission back to the PC 302.Upon receiving the particular advertiser information from advertiserserver 312, the PC 302 then retransmits a message to the input devicedistributor site 1616 and E-commerce site 1618 to obtain the informationthat needs to be framed in the browser window displayed to the user.

Therefore, the input device 1600 is associated with the input devicedistributor by way of a input device ID such that scanning a product barcode 1606 in order to obtain information about that particular productgenerates one or more responses from one or more remote sites disposedon the GCN 306. Stored in the input device 1600 is the input device IDwhich establishes its relationship to the input device distributor.Proprietary input device software running on the PC 302 operates todecode scanned bar code information and the input device ID receivedfrom the input device 1600 and wedge interface 1608, and also provides aunique user ID for establishing the location of the user of the inputdevice 1600. The input device software also assembles message packetsand works in conjunction with the on-board communication software (e.g.,a browser) to automatically route the message packets across the GCN 306such that the one or more remote sites disposed on the GCN 306 returninformation to be framed for presentation to the user.

Referring now to FIG. 17, there is illustrated a conversion circuit ofthe wedge interface. A microcontroller 1700 provides conversion of thedata from the input device 1600 and controls interfacing of the keyboard1610 and input device 1600 with the PC 302. The microcontroller 1700 hascontained therein a memory 1702 or it can have external memory. Thereare provided a plurality of input device interfaces 1704 to the inputdevice 1600, a plurality of PC interfaces 1706 to the PC 302, andplurality of keyboard interfaces 1708 to the keyboard 1610. In general,the input device interfaces 1704 comprise a serial data line, a groundline, and a power line. Similarly, the keyboard interfaces 1708 comprisea serial data line, a ground line, a clock line, and a power line. ThePC 302 provides a clock line, a power line, a serial data, and a groundline for input to the microcontroller 1700. The microcontroller 1700 isoperable to receive signals from the keyboard 1610 and transfer thesignals to the PC 302 as keyboard signals. Operation with the keyboard1610 is essentially a “pass-through” procedure. Data output from thekeyboard 1610 is already in keyboard format, and therefore requires noconversion by the wedge interface 1608. With respect to the input device1600, the serial data is not compatible with a keyboard 1610 and,therefore, it must be converted into a keyboard format in order to allowinput thereof to the keyboard input of the PC 302.

The microcontroller 1700 performs this function after decoding this barcode information, and conversion of this bar code information into anappropriate stream of data which is comprised of the bar codeinformation and the appended URL. This appended URL will be pre-storedin the memory 1702 and is programmable at the time of manufacture. It isnoted that the memory 1702 is illustrated as being contained within themicrocontroller 1702 to provide a single chip solution. However, thiscould be external memory that is accessible by the microcontroller 1702.Therefore, the microcontroller 1700 provides an interface between theinput device 1600 and the keyboard 1610 to the PC 302 which allows theinput device 1600 to receive coded information and convert it tokeyboard strokes or, alternatively, to merely pass-through thekeystrokes from the keyboard 1610. Therefore, the user need not installany type of plug-in circuit board into the motherboard of the PC 302 inorder to provide an interface to the input device 1600; rather, the userneed only utilize the already available keyboard port in order to inputthe appropriate data into the system.

In this particular disclosed embodiment, the microcontroller 1700comprises a PIC16C73 microcontroller by Microchip Technologies™. ThePIC16C73 device is a low cost CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with anintegrated analog-to-digital converter. The PIC16C73 device, asillustrated in the disclosed embodiment, has 192 bytes of RAM and 4 k×4of EPROM memory. The microcontroller 1700 can accommodate asynchronousor synchronous inputs from input devices connected to it. In thisdisclosed embodiment, communication to the keyboard 1610 is synchronouswhile it is asynchronous when communicating with input device 1600.

It should be noted that, although in this particular embodiment bar codeinformation of the bar code 1606 is input into the keyboard input portof the PC 302, disclosed methods may also be advantageously utilizedwith high speed port architectures such as Universal Serial Bus (“USB”)and IEEE 1394.

Bar codes are structured to be read in either direction. Timingconsiderations need to be addressed because of the variety ofindividuals scanning the bar code introduce a wide variety of scanrates. Bar codes use bars of varying widths. The presence of a black bargenerates a positive pulse, and the absence of a black bar generates nopulse. Each character of a conventional bar code has associatedtherewith seven pulses or bars. Depending on the width of the bars, thetime between pulses varies. In this disclosed embodiment, the interfacecircuitry 1608 performs a “running” calculation of the scan time basedupon the rising edge of the pulses commencing with the leader or headerinformation. The minimum and maximum scans times are calculatedcontinuously in software with the interface 1608 during the scanningprocess to ensure a successful scan by the user.

Referring now to FIG. 18, there is illustrated a sample message packettransmitted from the user's PC 302 to the ARS 308. The message packet1800 comprises a number of bits of information including the bar codeinformation 1802 obtained from the user scanning the bar code 1606 withthe input device 1600; the input device ID 1804 which is embedded in amemory in the input device 1600 and identifies it with a particularinput device distributor; and a user ID 1806 which is derived from thesoftware running on the PC 302 and which identifies uniquely with theuser location. Note that the message packet includes other necessaryinformation for the proper transmission for point to point.

Referring now to FIG. 19, there is illustrated a more detailed blockdiagram of the routing of the message packets in order to present theframed information to the user. As is mentioned hereinabove, when theuser scans a bar code 1606 using the input device 1600, a input deviceprogram running on the user PC 302 is operable to interpret theinformation output by the input device 1600 and generate a messagepacket for transmission over the GCN 306. The input device programassembles the message packet such that it is directed to the ARS 308disposed on the GCN 306. The message packet contains several pieces ofinformation including the input device ID 1804 which links it to theinput device distributor, the user ID 1806 which identifies theparticular user using the input device 1600, and bar code information1802 describing a particular product of interest to the user. Thismessage from the PC 302 is transmitted over a path 1900 to the ARS 308where the ARS database 310 is accessed to cross reference the IDinformation 1804 and bar code information 1802 to a particularadvertiser and input device distributor. The ARS 308 returns a messagepacket over a path 1902 to the user PC 302 which contains routinginformation as to the location of various other sites disposed on theGCN 306, for example, the advertiser server 312 and input devicedistributor site 1616.

It can be appreciated that other information can also be provided by theARS 308 which more closely targets the particular user of the inputdevice 1600. For example, if it is known that a particular input device1600 is sold in a certain geographic area, this information can beuseful in targeting the particular user with certain advertisinginformation relevant to that geographic area. In any case, theinformation returned from the ARS 308 over path 1902 provides enoughinformation for the input device program running on the user PC 302 toidentify a number of other sites disposed on the GCN 306. The user PC302 then processes the return message packet and routes another messagepacket over a path 1904 to the advertiser server 312. The advertiserserver 312 then returns product information of the particular product inwhich the user was interested back to the user PC 302 over a path 1906.Similarly, the user PC 302 routes information (e.g., the URL of theinput device distributor site and the user profile) to the input devicedistributor site 1616 over a path 1908 in order to obtain informationback over a path 1910 for framing any banners which identify the inputdevice distributor. Additionally, the user PC 302 forwards a messagepacket to the E-commerce site 1618 over a path 1912 in order to returninformation regarding any particular advertisements the input devicedistributor wants to display to the user. The advertisements arereturned to the PC 302 over a path 1914.

Referring now to FIG. 20, there is illustrated a block diagram of abrowser window according to the disclosed embodiment. The browser window2000 is partitioned into a plurality of areas for framing specificinformation. A bar code area 2002 displays that product information inwhich the user was interested; an input device-specific area 2004displays information about the input device distributor; and anE-commerce area 2006 displays advertising information that the inputdevice distributor selects for display according to this particular userand input device 1600. As mentioned hereinabove, a program operable toprocess scanned bar code information with the unique input device 1600develops the browser window by partitioning it into specific areas forthe framing of information. Therefore, information returned from theE-commerce site 1608 is passed through the GCN 306 to the particularE-commerce frame 2006. Similarly, information about the particularproduct of interest is returned from the advertiser site 312 across theGCN 306 to the particular bar code specific area 2002. Informationplaced in the input device specific area 2004 is information about theinput device distributor which is returned from the input devicedistributor site 1616 across GCN 306.

Referring now to FIG. 21, there is illustrated a structure ofinformation contained in the ARS database. The ARS database 310 containsa variety of information required to properly interrogate and assemblepackets for obtaining information from the various sites disposed on theGCN 306. The ARS database 310 has a database structure 2100 whichcontains addresses for the web sites containing the product informationrequested by the user when scanning the bar code 1606 with the inputdevice 1600. Under a PRODUCT heading 2102 are listed the particular barcodes and associated routing information for addressing the respectiveserver location. For example, the ARS server 308 may contain any numberof advertisers having unique URL addresses associated therewith.Therefore, the bar code 1606 of a particular product is associated witha unique URL address which routes any request for information of thatproduct to that particular advertiser's site. Also part of the ARSdatabase structure 2000 is a heading of INPUT DEVICE under which is theinput device ID 1804 and the distributor associated with that inputdevice ID 1804.

It can be appreciated that there may be a number of distributors usingthe disclosed architecture such that each distributor has an ID embeddedin the input device 1600 which uniquely identifies that input devicewith the particular distributor. Therefore, the unique input device ID1804 needs to be listed with the respective distributors of that inputdevice 1600 in order to process the information that needs to be framedand displayed to that particular user. Another heading under the ARSdatabase structure 2100 is a user heading 2106 which contains profileinformation associated with that particular user ID 1806. As mentionedhereinabove, the user ID 1806 is obtained via the input device softwarerunning on the PC 302 and upon installation or subsequent configurationmay request that the user input certain profile information which may beused to target that particular user with products and services whichidentify with that user profile. The ARS database structure 2100 alsocontains an E-commerce heading 2108 which contains information relatedto the bar code 1606 and an advertisement that may be triggered by therequest for that information. For example, any bar code 1606 associatedwith a paper source 1602 can be associated with the specific informationin the ARS database 310. A user wishing to obtain information about aspecific soft drink may, in fact, trigger an advertising response of acompetitor product. Similarly, the user interested in information aboutthat particular soft drink may also trigger information which isrelevant to that particular product or a product which may normally beserved in conjunction with that soft drink. Furthermore, if the userprofile indicates that this individual has significant interest infinance or insurance, the request for information regarding thisparticular bar coded product may trigger advertisement from anE-commerce server 1618 related to information about finance andinsurance. It should be noted that the information described ascontained within the ARS database structure 2100 is not limited to whathas been described, but may comprise any number of pieces of informationused to present desired information to the computer display of the user.

Referring now to FIG. 22, there is illustrated a flowchart of theprocess of receiving information from the user's perspective, andaccording to the disclosed embodiment. The input device software runningon the user's PC 302 runs in the background until activated by outputfrom the input device 1600. Therefore, flow moves to a decision block2200 where if a scanned input does not occur, flow moves out the “N”path and loops back to the input of decision block 2200. On the otherhand, if scanned input information is received, flow moves out the “Y”path to a function block 2202 where the input device software assemblesa message packet containing the bar code information, the input deviceID 1804 and the ARS 308 URL address. Additionally, the browser islaunched in which this information is placed for transmission to the ARS308. Flow then moves to a function block 2204 where the browser ispartitioned into any number of areas in which information is displayedwhen obtained from the input device distributor site 1616, theE-commerce site 1618, and the advertiser server 312. It should be knownthat although three frames are shown in the particular window 2000 ofthis embodiment, the number of frames displayed in the window 2000 islimited only by the available real estate of the window 2000 areaitself.

After the input device software partitions the browser window into oneor more frames in preparation of receipt of return information, flowmoves to a decision block 2206 where the computer waits for informationto be returned from the various sites disposed on the GCN 306. Ifinformation is not returned, flow moves out the “N” path and simplyloops back to the input to continue monitoring for receipt of theinformation. If information has been received, flow moves out the “Y”path to a function block 2208 where routing information for each frame(or partitioned area of the window 2000) is inserted into one or morepackets for transmission to the various sites. The various sites thenreturn the requested information back to the PC 302, as indicated infunction block 2210. Flow is then to a function block 2212 where theproprietary software working in conjunction with the hosted browserplaces the returned information into the respective frames of thewindow. The user, viewing the display at PC 302, then perceives avariety of information, one of which is the particular productinformation which he or she requested, in addition to input devicedistributor information, and possibly other advertisements based uponthe user's profile.

Referring now to FIG. 23, there is illustrated a flowchart of theprocess according to the ARS. The ARS 308 is operable to decode andprocess messages received from the GCN 306. Therefore, flow is to adecision block 2300 where, if bar code information is not received, flowis out the “N” path with loop-back to its input. If bar code informationhas been received, flow is to a function block 2302 where a matchingprocess occurs to link the bar-coded product information to itsrespective manufacturer. The ARS database 310 also associates the URLaddress of the manufacturer's server. When a match is found, the ARS 308begins to assemble a message packet of information for transmission backto the PC 302, as indicated in function block 2304. The message packetcontains the product information and the URL address of themanufacturer's website. Flow then moves to a decision block 2306 wherethe input device ID 1804 is compared with the list of input device IDsissued by the particular input device distributor. If the input deviceID 1804 is validated, flow moves out the “Y” path to a function block2308 where the message packet is appended with the input device ID 1804and distributor routing address. Flow then moves to a decision block2310 where the ARS 308 determines if any E-commerce information is to beassociated with a particular input device ID 1804. If so, flow is outthe “Y” path to a function block 2312 where the message packet isappended with the E-commerce routing string. The E-commerce routingstring provides addressing for the E-commerce server 1618. Flow thenmoves to a function block 2314 where all message packets are returnedback to the PC 302 for processing.

Referring back to decision block 2306, if the input device ID 1804 isdetermined to be invalid, flow moves out the “N” path and jumps forwardto the input of decision block 2314, since the lack of a input device ID1804 interrupts the link to any advertising provided by the E-commerceserver 1618. At this point, the only information provided is the link tothe advertiser server 312 for return of product information. Referringnow to decision block 2310, if no E-commerce information is available,flow moves out the “N” path and jumps forward to the input of functionblock 2314 where the message packet back to the PC 302 contains only theURL of the advertiser server 312, the bar code information, thedistributor server 1616 address and input device ID 1804 information.

Referring now to FIG. 24, there is illustrated a flowchart of theprocess performed at the E-commerce site. The E-commerce server 1618receives the message packet from the user PC 302, as indicated infunction block 2400, and decodes the packet to perform a match with thebar coded information. Moving on to a decision block 2402, if the matchis unsuccessful, flow is out the “N” path to a function block 2404 wherethe match is rejected. A message may be returned to indicate that aproblem occurred and the user may need to re-scan the product bar code1606. If a successful match occurs, flow moves out the “Y” path to afunction block 2406 where the input device ID 1804 is matched with thebar code product information. The bar coded information may bedistributed to customers over a large geographic area. However, theinput device 1606 may be coded for certain geographic areas. Forexample, a input device 1600 having an XXX ID may be restricted for salein the Southwestern United States while a input device 1600 having a YYYID may be sold only in the Northeast. In this way, geographic areas maybe targeted with advertising more appealing to that particular area.Advertising returned to the user PC 302 may be focused further byobtaining a user profile when the software or input device 1600 areinstalled. In this way, advertising may be focused based upon the userprofile. Therefore, flow moves to a function block 2408 to lookup theE-commerce action based upon the input device ID 1804 and the bar codeinformation. Flow moves to a function block 2410 to assemble all theinformation into a packet for return to the user PC 302. The productinformation and/or user profile information may be returned. Flow isthen to a function block 2412 where the message packet is transmitted.

Referring now to FIG. 25, there is illustrated an optical reader whichcan be used for scanning an optical code, for example a bar code, anddelivering signals indicative of the optical code to a computer. Reader2500 typically includes an outer shell 2502 enclosing the workingcomponents and shaped for convenient manual grasping by the user. Duringoperation, the front end 2504 of the reader 2500 is brought into contactwith (or very close proximity to) a surface 2506 bearing the opticalcode to be read, for example barcode 2508. The reading operation beginswith the reader 2500 positioned at a starting position (shown in phantomand denoted by reference numeral 2510) to one side of the barcode 2508.The reader 2500 is then moved across the barcode 2508 as indicated byarrow 2512 to a final position (shown in phantom and denoted byreference numeral 2514) on the opposite side. Typically, the reader 2500must be moved across the barcode 2508 at a substantially constant speedto ensure accurate reading of the symbol. Once the optical symbol hasbeen scanned by the optical reader 2500, internal circuitry produceselectronic output signals indicative of the symbol. These electronicoutput signals are provided to a computer (not shown), typically bymeans of a wired control cord 2516. Alternately, the output signals maybe sent from the reader 2500 to the computer using other knowntransmission technologies, for example using a wireless radio frequency(RF) link or a wireless infrared (IR) link.

Referring now to FIGS. 26 and 27, there are illustrated external viewsof optical reader 2500 according to an embodiment of the invention.Typically, the outer shell 2502 of the reader 2500 will be constructedfrom multiple pieces to allow simple assembly of the internalcomponents. For example, the illustrated embodiment includes an uppershell 2702 and a lower shell 2704 which form a hollow interior cavitywithin which the internal components are mounted. To provide for easiergripping and to prevent the device from rolling across flat surfaces,the upper shell 2702 may have a generally semi-circular cross sectionand the lower shell 2704 may have a generally flat cross section. Ascanning portal 2706 is provided at the front end 2504 of reader 2500 toallow the interior components to project and collect radiant energyduring the scanning operation. The scanning portal 2706 is typicallycovered by a protective window 2708 which is transparent to the radiantenergy wavelength used for scanning. Projection and/or collection lensesmay be visible behind the window 2708. For example, in FIG. 27, acollection lens 2710 and a projection lens 2712 are visible through thewindow 2708.

To assist the user in maintaining the proper orientation of the reader2500 during the scanning operation (i.e., with the front end 2504substantially flat against the surface 2506 bearing the optical symbol,the front end 2504 may be adapted to form a substantially flat bearingsurface 2602 surrounding the scanning portal 2708. The bearing surface2602 is preferably substantially perpendicular to the axis 2604 of thecollection portion of the optical system. To reduce the likelihood thatthe scanning window 2708 will be scratched during the scanning process,it may be inset slightly behind the plane of the bearing surface 2602.The window 2708 may be further protected by the provision of pads 2606on external shell 2502 which project slightly ahead of the bearingsurface 2602.

The external shell 2502 of the reader 2500 may be contoured to provide acomfortable grasp for the user and/or to have an attractive ordistinctive shape. For example, the upper shell 2702 of the reader 2500is smoothly contoured to provide a “streamlined” appearance inaccordance with a common style used on other computer related devicessuch as a computer mouse, a track ball, etc. In other embodiments,however, the exterior shell may be contoured to provide a moredistinctive appearance. The exterior surface of the outer shell 2502further provides an area 2607 for the placement of identifying oradvertising indicia 2608 (shown in phantom). Such indicia, if present,may be formed by printing or painting directly on the exterior surfaceof the reader 2500, by the application of discrete labels, and/or bymolding letters, designs or other indicia directly into the surface ofthe reader by means of injection molding or a similar process.

Referring now to FIGS. 33–35, there is illustrated an alternativeembodiment of the invention. Optical reader 3300 has an exterior shell3302 contoured to resemble an animal, in this case, a stylized cat. Itwill be readily appreciated that, except for the recontoured shell 3302,the features described for the previous embodiment are present insubstantially identical form in this embodiment, including the scanningportal 2706, window 2708, bearing surface 2602 and pads 2606. Inaddition, identifying or advertising indicia 2608 may be placed on thestylized shell of reader 3300 in the same fashion as on the previousembodiment. It will further be apparent that the external shell of thereader can be contoured to resemble other animals, e.g., dogs, birds,reptiles, fish, etc. or other objects including automobiles, trucks,trains, aircraft, etc. without departing from the scope of the currentinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 28, there is illustrated a general block diagramshowing the function of an optical reader in accordance with embodimentsof the current invention. A radiant energy source 2802 is provided forgenerating a radiant energy which will be used for illuminating a targetregion containing the barcode or other symbol to be scanned. The radiantenergy, denoted by arrow 2804, is transmitted from the source 2802 intoan optical system 2806. The radiant energy is typically light in thevisible wavelength, however light of infrared (IR) wavelength or otherforms of radiant energy may be used. The optical system 2606, which willbe described in further detail below, directs the radiant energy (nowdenoted by arrow 2807) into a target region 2808 adjacent to the reader.The radiant energy directed into the target region 2808 illuminates abarcode 2810 present therein and causes an image, denoted by arrow 2812,of the barcode to be reflected back into another portion of the opticalsystem 2806. The reflected image of the barcode passes through theoptical system 2806 where it is processed to increase its contrast anddecrease its luminance. After processing, the image, denoted now byarrow 2814, is directed by the optical system 2806 onto a photodetector2816, which produces output electrical signals indicative of the radiantenergy incident thereon. The output electrical signals, denoted by arrow2818, are routed to a decoder circuit 2820, which utilizes electroniccircuitry to decode the output electrical signals to provide anindication of the information contained in the barcode 2810. Theinformation, denoted by reference numeral 2822, is then transmitted toan external computer 2824 for further use or processing.

Typically, the decoded information 2822 is transmitted to the externalcomputer 2824 in accordance with a known data interface format. Suitabledata interface formats for transmission of the barcode information fromthe decoder circuit 2820 of the reader to an external computer 2824include an output signal which emulates computer keyboard keystrokessuch as those in accordance with the PS/2 keyboard interface standard orthe AT keyboard interface standard. Alternately, the output signals maybe formatted in accordance with other known data interface orcommunication standards, including the Universal Serial Bus (USB)standard, the RS-232 standard, the RS-423 standard, the IEEE 1394(FIREWIRE) standard, the Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interfacestandard, the Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) interfacestandard, the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) transmission standard,the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) interface standard, the8-Bit Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus standard, the 16-bitIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus standard, the VL-Bus busstandard, the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard, thePersonal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) busstandard, the Centronics Parallel Port (CPP) standard, the EnhancedParallel Port (EPP) standard, the Extended Capabilities Port (ECP)standard, the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) interface standard,and network architecture standards including Ethernet and Token Ringnetwork standards.

It is desirable to provide an optical reader which is economical toproduce, therefore reducing the number of components and simplifying thedesign and construction of the remaining components are importantfeatures of the current invention. Referring now to FIG. 29, there isillustrated the optical reader 2500 with the upper shell removed to showthe interior components. A printed circuit board (PCB) 2902 is providedfor physical mounting and electrical interconnection of the necessaryelectronic components comprising the decoder circuit and output signalinterface circuit. These components include a microprocessor 2904,memory (not shown), interface circuit 2906, timing crystal 2908 andsignal amplifiers 2910. Note that for clarity of illustration, theindividual circuit lines and many smaller components such as resistorswhich appear on the actual PCB 2902 are not illustrated in FIG. 29. ThePCB 2902 may be mounted to the lower shell 2704 of the reader by meansof locating pins 2912 molded into the shell and protruding throughcorresponding holes in the PCB. These holes can further receive screws(not shown) for securing the upper shell 2702 to the lower shell 2704during final assembly. The portion of the PCB 2902 mounting amplifiers2910 is preferably enclosed is shielding material 2914 to prevent strayelectrical signals from creating noise in the amplifier circuitry. Thecontrol cord 2516 connects the reader 2500 to the external computer2824, entering the shell and passing through strain relief fitting 2916for connecting to the PCB 2902 with electrical connector 2918.

The optical system 2806 may be mounted to the front end of the PCB 2902and further secured to the lower shell 2704 with locating pins 2920and/or clips 2922 as needed. The radiant energy source 2802 is typicallymounted to the PCB 2902 and electrically connected thereto to receiveelectrical power. The radiant energy source 2802 produces light or otherradiant energy which is delivered into the optical system 2806. In oneembodiment, the radiant energy source 2802 is a light emitting diode(LED), however it will be apparent that a laser or other radiant energysource could be used. The optical system 2806 comprises a projectionportion 2924 for directing the radiant energy along a projection pathextending from the radiant energy source 2802 to the target region 2926.The optical system 2806 further includes a collection portion 2928 forcollecting the radiant energy reflected from a symbol (e.g., a barcode)when the symbol occupies the target region 2926 and directing thecollected radiant energy along a collection path extending from thetarget region to the photodetector 2816. The collection path of theoptical system 2608 is typically enclosed by a light shield 2930 toprevent unwanted radiant energy from entering the optical system andbeing reflected or scattered into the photodetector 2816.

Referring now to FIG. 30, there is illustrated an enlarged view of theoptical system 2608 showing its constituent components. In FIG. 30, thetop of the light shield 2930 has been removed for clarity ofillustration, but the walls 3002 of the light shield are present oneither side of the collection axis 2604. In this embodiment, the radiantenergy source 2802 is mounted on a forward extension 3004 of the PCB2902. At least a portion of the radiant energy emitted by the source2802, which is typically visible—or IR—wavelength light, enters theprojection portion 2924 of the optical system. In the embodiment shown,the projection portion includes a guideway 3006 which directs theradiant energy (denoted by rays 3008) from the source 2802 to the targetregion 2926. In one embodiment, the guideway 3006 comprises atransparent prism which directs the radiant energy 3008 by reflectionfrom the guideway sides 3010 and by refraction at the guideway ends3012, 3013. It will be apparent, however that other embodiments mayutilize a mirror or fiber optics as the guideway 3006. Alternatively,other embodiments may directly illuminate the target region 2926 fromthe source 2802 without the use of a guideway. A guideway lens 2712 maybe used at the upstream end 3013 of the guideway 3006 to increase theamount of radiant energy collected from the source 2802 for delivery tothe target region 2926.

The radiant energy 3008 delivered to the target region 2926 illuminatesany barcode 2508 present, causing the energy to be scattered from thesurface of the barcode as illustrated. At least a portion of the energyscattered from the barcode 2508 is reflected into the collection lens2710, forming a reflected image of the barcode. This image is directedalong the collection axis 2604 of the optical system downstream towardthe photodetector 2816. As the barcode 2508 moves through the targetregion 2926, the reflected image of the alternating light and dark(i.e., more reflective and less reflective) bars forming the symbol willbe directed across the photodetector 2816, causing the output electricalsignals to vary correspondingly. Given output electronic signals havingsufficient signal-to-noise ratio, decoding circuits of known design canamplify and decode the output electrical signals from a photodetectorand identify the corresponding barcode. However, prior to the currentinvention, photodetectors providing signals having sufficientsignal-to-noise ratio were not available at a sufficiently lowmanufacturing cost. Of particular challenge is obtaining a highsignal-to-noise ratio electrical signal from a photodetector withoututilizing a multi-stage photo amplifier. Further, it is preferred thatthe system utilize as few optical elements as possible.

Referring still to FIG. 30, the photodetector 2816 of the currentembodiment is mounted on the top surface 3014 of a base 3016 andelectrically connected to the PCB 2902 with leads 3018. Thephotodetector 2816 may be a device selected from the group of knownlight-sensitive devices including photo-diodes, photo-transistors,photo-resistors, photomultiplier tubes, and Charge Coupled Devices(CCD). Alternately, the photodetector 2816 may be another type of devicefor producing electrical signals corresponding to light incidentthereupon. In a preferred embodiment, the photodetector 2816 is aphoto-diode which provides a desirable combination of light-sensitivityand low cost.

Disposed upstream on the collection path from the photodetector 2816 isa pinhole aperture 3020. Preferably, there are no intervening orrefractive or diffractive elements between the pinhole aperture 3020 andthe photodetector 2816, as their presence will increase the cost of thedevice. A pinhole aperture is a well known optical element whichprovides a well defined, virtually undistorted image of objects across awide angular field (i.e., good depth of focus) and over a large range ofdistances (i.e., good depth of field). A pinhole aperture does not focusthe energy passing therethrough, but rather increases the contrast ofthe image, although at the same time decreasing its luminance. Raisingthe contrast of the image passed to the photodetector 2816 increases thesignal-to-noise ratio of the resulting electrical output. The lowerluminance of the image merely reduces the overall output signal strengthand can be easily overcome by electronic amplification if thesignal-to-noise ratio of the signal is high. Thus, by positioning thepinhole aperture 3020 upstream of the photodetector 2816 in the currentinvention, the image contrast of the barcode image is increased suchthat an inexpensive single stage photodetector can provide an electricalsignal having sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to allow decoding of thebarcode without encountering excessive signal noise during electronicamplification.

The collection lens 2710 is disposed upstream on the collection path(i.e., toward the barcode which is the source of the image) from thepinhole aperture 3020. Preferably, collection lens 2710 is a magnifyinglens, i.e., refracting the light rays passing therethrough to create animage which has increased dimensions compared to the actual bar code.The magnifying lens illustrated in FIG. 30 is a single element doubleconvex lens. In another embodiment, a single element plano-convex lensmay be used. In still further embodiments, other single element or multielement magnifying lenses can be used for collection lens 2710.Preferably, there are no intervening refractive or diffractive elementsbetween the pinhole aperture 3020 and the collection lens 2710, as theirpresence will increase the cost of the device.

The refracted light rays 3009 leaving the collection lens 2710 form animage of the bar code which is dimensionally magnified as it movestoward the pinhole aperture 3020, thereby increasing the apparent widthof the bars when their image is received at the pinhole aperture. Theportion of the image passing through the pinhole aperture 3020 andreaching the photodetector 2816 will likewise be dimensionallymagnified. Thus, the optical system 2806 of the current embodiment,combining dimensional image magnification (provided by the collectionlens 2710) and contrast enhancement (provided by the pinhole aperture3020) effectively acts to pre-amplify the optical signal reaching thephotodetector 2816 such that the electrical output signals 2818 willhave sufficient signal-to-noise ratio for amplification and decodingwithout requiring a multi stage electronic photo amplifier which wouldbe more expensive to manufacture. Described another way, the opticalsystem according to one embodiment of the current invention providesincreased resolution (i.e., the ability to distinguish between two linesor points in a symbol) as follows: The bar code 2508 to be read has aminimum unit width denoted by W, for example, the minimum width of a barin the bar code. The light rays 3009 of the image are refracted by thecollection lens 2710 such that the minimum unit width of the bar code isdimensionally magnified, for example, from W to 2×W (i.e., a factor of2×) as it moves from the target plane 2506 to the pinhole aperture plane3024. The pinhole aperture 3020 is selected to have a diameter, forexample 0.5×W, which is smaller than the magnified minimum unit width.Thus, only a sample (denoted by reference numeral 3028) of the imagerays may pass through the aperture 3020 to the photodetector 2816 lyingin the photodetector plane 3026. This results in the photodetector 2816seeing (i.e., having in its field of view), at most, either a portion ofa single feature (bar or space) or portions of one bar and one adjacentspace. The photodetector never sees portions of three adjacent featuresat the same time. This arrangement results in a very highsignal-to-noise ratio being produced by the photodetector 2816. In oneembodiment of the current invention, the optical system 2806 provides atthe photodetector plane 3026 an image of the symbol 2508 at the targetplane 2506 which is dimensionally magnified within the range of about0.5× to about 5×. In another embodiment, the optical system 2806provides at the photodetector plane an image of the symbol at the targetplane which is magnified within the range of about 1.5× to about 2.5×.In yet another embodiment, the optical system 2806 provides at thephotodetector plane an image of the symbol at the target plane which isdimensionally magnified within the range of 1.9× to about 2.1×.

Referring still to FIG. 30, a protective window 2708 may be providedalong the collection path upstream from the magnifying lens 2710. Theprotective window 2708 has parallel surfaces which are disposedsubstantially perpendicular to the collection path 2604 and thus do notsubstantially refract or diffract light rays passing therethrough. Inthe embodiment illustrated, the protective window 2708 is molded as anintegral portion of the component which also comprises the projectionguideway 3006 and guideway lens 2712. In one embodiment of the currentinvention, the collection portion 2928 of the optical system 2806consists of only the protective window 2708, the magnifying collectionlens 2710 and the pinhole aperture 3020 arranged in that order betweenthe target symbol 2508 and the photodetector 2816. Such an embodimentprovides a functional optical system having very low production costs.

Referring now to FIGS. 31 and 32, there is illustrated a discretedetector unit 3102 which may be used in an embodiment of the invention.The detector unit 3102 comprises the photodetector 2816 and the pinholeaperture 3020 packaged together in a discrete unit. Such packagingdecreases production costs by reducing the assembly's part count and byreducing the number of components which must be assembled.

As best seen in FIG. 32, the detector unit 3102 includes a base 3016having a top surface 3014 upon which the actual photodetector 2816 ismounted. Note that the photodetector 2816 may be a separate electroniccomponent which has been mounted to the base 3016 or alternately, it maybe a device formed as an integral part of the base substrate. A cap 3104is mounted to the base 3016. The cap 3104 has a top portion 3106 whichis spaced apart from the top surface 3014 of the base 3016 to define aninterior cavity 3202 containing the photodetector 2816. The cap 3104 hasa single pinhole 3020 formed therethrough at a predetermined distance3108 from the photodetector 2816. Except for the pinhole aperture 3020,the cap 3104 is preferably light-tight. In one embodiment of theinvention, the cap 3014 of the detector unit 3102 is a cylindricalmetallic canister having a flat upper portion 3106. Using a metalliccanister for the cap 3014 has two advantages: first, it provides arugged container which protects the photodetector from damage duringtransportation, handling and assembly; and second, the metallic materialallows a pinhole aperture 3020 having high dimensional accuracy to beformed by drilling, punching or otherwise machining a hole through themetallic surface. In addition, cylindrical metallic canisters suitablefor use as cap 3014 are readily available at very low costs in theelectronic industry, having been used for many years as protective capsfor transistors and other semiconductor devices. To provide for aconvenient sized optical reader, one embodiment of the current inventionutilizes a detector unit 3102 having a cap 3104 with a diameter 3204within the range of about 3 millimeters to about 20 millimeters. Anotherembodiment of the current invention utilizes a detector unit 3102 havinga cap 3104 with a diameter 3204 within the range of about 4 millimetersto about 8 millimeters. Yet another reader according to the currentinvention utilizes a cap for the detector unit 3102 having a diameter3204 within the range of about 5.5 millimeters to about 6.5 millimeters.

The predetermined distance 3108 between the pinhole aperture plane 3024and the photodetector plane 3026 will affect the overall magnificationof the image (or portion of the image) received at the photodetector2816. In one embodiment of the current invention, the predetermineddistance 3108 is within the range of about 1 millimeter to about 10millimeters. In another embodiment of the current invention, thepredetermined distance 3108 is within the range of about 3 millimetersto about 7 millimeters. In yet another embodiment, the predetermineddistance 3108 between the photodetector 2816 and the pinhole aperture3020 is within the range of about 4.5 millimeters to about 6millimeters.

Referring now to FIG. 36, there is illustrated a flowchart of a methodof reading a bar code in accordance with another aspect of the currentinvention. The method starts in block 3602 and proceeds to the firstfunction block 3604 wherein the target region is illuminated with aradiant energy generated by a radiant energy source which is directedfrom the source to the target region. Next, flow continues to functionblock 3606 wherein the bar code or other symbol is moved through thetarget area. Flow next proceeds to block 3608 which representstransmitting an image of the illuminated bar code through an opticalsystem along a collection path extending from the target region to aphotodetector. The step of transmitting includes a first sub-step 3610wherein the reflected image of the bar code is dimensionally magnifiedwith an optical element which is disposed along the collection pathbetween the target region and the photodetector. Preferably, the opticalelement used for dimensional magnification is a magnifying lens, eithera double convex lens or a plano-convex lens. Further, it should be notedthat sub-step 3610 is preferred but not required.

The step 3608 of transmitting an image of the illuminated bar codefurther comprises a second sub-step 3612 which is increasing thecontrast of the reflected image and decreasing the luminance of theimage by passing it through an optical element disposed along thecollection path between the target region and the photodetector. Notethat when sub-step 3610 is performed, the optical element for magnifyingthe image is disposed between the bar code and the optical element whichincreases the contrast of the reflected image. In an embodiment of theinvention, the optical element which increases the contrast of thereflected image is a passive device, i.e., it requires no electricalenergy or other external power. In another embodiment, the opticalelement which increases the contrast of the image is combined in adiscrete package with the photodetector. In yet embodiment, the opticalelement which increases the contrast of the reflected image is a pinholeaperture. The pinhole aperture may be formed through the body of adiscrete package enclosing the photodetector or the pinhole aperture maybe a separate element included in the optical system.

Flow now continues to function block 3614 wherein the reflected image ofthe bar code is received by the photodetector. Flow then continues tofunction block 3616 wherein the photodetector generates outputelectrical signals indicative of the radiant energy received. Flow thenproceeds to function block 3618 wherein the output electrical signalsproduced by the detector are decoded to provide an indication of theinformation contained in the bar code. The method of reading the barcode is now complete as indicated by the flow proceeding to the “End”block 3620.

Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail, itshould be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterationscan be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

1. An optical reader for reading an optically encoded symbol, the reader comprising: a housing having an opening; a radiant energy source contained within said housing for illuminating a target region with a beam of radiant energy through said opening when said opening is disposed proximate the target region; a photodetector contained within said housing for detecting the radiant energy incident received thereby; an optical system contained within said housing having: a projection portion for directing the output of the radiant energy source as a beam along a projection path at a predetermined fixed angle to the opening and thus to the surface of the target region extending from the radiant energy source to the target region through said opening in said housing, wherein said housing is operable to be placed in close proximity to the target region; a collection portion for collecting the radiant energy reflected from a symbol when the symbol occupies at least a portion of the target region and directing the collected radiant energy along a collection path extending from the target region through said opening to the photodetector, the collection portion including: one pinhole aperture disposed upstream on the collection path from the photodetector, and one magnifying lens disposed upstream on the collection path from the pinhole aperture wherein the pinhole aperture and photodetector comprise a discrete detector; and a decoder for decoding the output of the photodetector to provide an indication of the information contained in the symbol.
 2. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the collection portion includes no other refracting or diffracting elements disposed along the collection path.
 3. An optical reader in accordance with claim 2, further comprising a protective window disposed upstream on the collection path from the magnifying lens, the protective window having parallel surfaces disposed perpendicular to the collection path.
 4. An optical reader in accordance with claim 3, wherein the collection portion includes no other elements disposed along the collection path.
 5. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the magnifying lens is a double-convex lens.
 6. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the magnifying lens is a plano-convex lens.
 7. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the collection portion provides to the photodetector a dimensionally magnified image of the symbol occupying the target region.
 8. An optical reader in accordance with claim 7, wherein the image of the symbol occupying the target region provided to the photodetector is dimensionally magnified by a factor within the range of about 0.5× to about 5×.
 9. An optical reader in accordance with claim 8, wherein the image of the symbol occupying the target region provided to the photodetector is dimensionally magnified by a factor within the range of about 1.5× to about 2.5×.
 10. An optical reader in accordance with claim 9, wherein the image of the symbol occupying the target region provided to the photodetector is dimensionally magnified by a factor within the range of about 1.9× to about 2.1×.
 11. An optical reader in accordance with claim 9, wherein said radiant energy source is operable to illuminate the target region as a spot illumination.
 12. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the photodetector is a photo-diode.
 13. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the photodetector is a photo-transistor.
 14. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the photodetector is a photo-resistor.
 15. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the photodetector is a charge coupled device (CCD).
 16. An optical reader in accordance with claim 1, wherein the discrete detector unit further comprises: a base having a top surface upon which the photodetector is mounted; and a cap mounted to the base and having a top portion spaced apart from the top surface of the base to define an interior cavity containing the photodetector, the cap having a single pinhole formed therethrough at a predetermined distance from the photodetector and being otherwise light-tight.
 17. An optical reader in accordance with claim 16, wherein the cap of the detector unit is a cylindrical metallic canister having a flat top.
 18. An optical reader in accordance with claim 17, wherein the cap of the detector unit has a diameter within the range of about 3 mm to about 20 mm.
 19. An optical reader in accordance with claim 18, wherein the cap of the detector unit has a diameter within the range of about 4 mm to about 8 mm.
 20. An optical reader in accordance with claim 19, wherein the cap of the detector unit has a diameter within the range of about 5.5 mm to about 6.5 mm. 